BNP leader Nick Griffin tells Stephen Fry to ‘get over’ his fears about Russia’s anti-gay laws

The leader of the British National Party says Russia’s decision to introduce anti-gay laws is because the country favours “traditional values” and has told Stephen Fry to “get over it!”

On Thursday, Nick Griffin, BNP leader and MEP for the North-West of England tweeted the gay author, actor and broadcaster to say: “Some people & nations just favour traditional values – get over it! Russia has rights too.”

Yesterday, Fry wrote an open letter to David Cameron, International Olympics Committee President Jacques Rogge and Lord Coe, urging for the 2014 Winter Olympics to not take place in Sochi.

He said: “An absolute ban on the Russian Winter Olympics of 2014 on Sochi is simply essential. Stage them elsewhere in Utah, Lillehammer, anywhere you like. At all costs Putin cannot be seen to have the approval of the civilised world.”

Fry compared the situation to the decision to hold the 1936 Olympic Games in Nazi Germany and said President Vladimir Putin “is making scapegoats of gay people”.

Nick Griffin is known for his homophobic remarks.

The 54-year-old previously described gay people as “creepy” and admitted that he would like to ban civil partnerships.

In October 2012 he was criticised for posting the address of a gay couple on the internet and calling for his supporters to demonstrate outside their Cambridgeshire home.

It was over the decision of Reading County Court to rule in favour of Michael Black and John Morgan; the pair were prevented from sharing a room together at the Swiss Bed and Breakfast in Cookham, Berkshire, in March 2010.